Thursday, January 3, 2013

"I suggest we rush in," whispers Oloc as quietly
as he can. "We should be able to surprise them and perhaps catch them
completely off guard. What say you?" The Mage tries to convince the others
of the soundness of his plan.

Gaven listens to Oloc's suggestion then whispers, "The
other alternative is to try and sneak a peek to see what we're up against.
Whatever is decided upon, I will take rear guard so as not to alert the bandits
to our sneak attack by my armor."

"If there is a way to sneak a look before rushing in I think that would be
best. Perhaps if we can stay hidden I can surprise them with several arrows
before the rest of you rush in," says Duran.

With a slight majority of the Free Company favoring the
stealth option, Gaven takes up position in the rear, as Duran moves up front to
scout.

Arriving first across the cavern and peeking out the north
exit, with Swede following silently close behind him, Duran looks ahead and
sees a long empty tunnel, dimly illuminated by torches at extended intervals. The
tunnel itself is twenty feet wide, and extends due north to yet another cavern,
about sixty feet away. It is clearly from the cavern at the end of this tunnel
that the voices are coming.

Right up at the corner, Duran can pick out the voices more
clearly now. He could swear that the most talkative of the voices is the one
you heard swearing and cursing Alanna earlier that day at the cave entrance.*

Duran still can't catch the conversation entirely, but he hears bits and pieces that seem directed at the Alanna: "Alanna...
...damned witch ... pay ... treats me this way ..." and then a change in subject:
"Where the hell is that boy? ... done by now ... how long ... clean up
..."

Suddenly Swede jumps back away from the corner, pulling
Duran back toward the party with him. Just as the hobgoblin yanks him backward, Duran catches the
quickest glimpse of a silhouette, backlit by distant torchlight, in the entrance to the
chamber from which the voices emanate. Swede quickly puts a finger to his lips
and signals to the rest of you that someone is coming down the tunnel towards
you.

No alarm is raised so it seems neither Duran nor Swede was
spotted. You hear footsteps getting closer, and a voice – different from the
one you've heard to this point – calls out "Sinder! Are you there you lazy
scalawag?" Then lower, almost muttering, as if talking to himself: "Just
lying about doing nothing I'll bet, while the boss sends me to find him. Aspasia's
bum! If he's napping, I'll give him the back of my hand!" His voice, and
his footsteps, are coming closer.

*************************

OOC: Actions?

I'm assuming, unless you say otherwise, that since the area is
already illuminated, you extinguished your torches as you were
moving up stealthily.

Suddenly you hear a foul oath from a gruff voice echo out
from the cave, followed by the command: "Clear that wood out of there and
drag those bodies back in here! Sons of a Succubus! Some cowardly peasant
militia from Ham's Fork must have found their way down here and thought they
could smoke me out! No doubt Alanna put them up to it, too. By all the shadows,
I'll cut her throat for this!"

7 comments:

"Quick, let's get back around the corner (where the snake passage is) and prepare to jump him." Oloc looks to the others with a sense if urgency. "We do not have much time!"

ooc: I assume we have enough time to get there, but if we would feel that the sounds are too close to allow for that possibility, then Oloc will suggest we get along the north wall and jump the scout, trying to quiet him immediately.

I think you could get there but to get there quickly enough (so that he doesn't spot the last of you going round the corner), I'd say there's a 50-50 chance someone in the party will make some minor noise that the bandit can hear. If that happens, the bandit may go on alert, or he may just assume some non-threatening cause for the noise (Sinder, rats, whatever). I'll say a 50-50 chance for that, too. So in a nutshell, a 25% chance he'd hear you and go on the alert.